Kamen Rider: Gaim's Feudal Warfare in Sword Art Online
by Xamusel - Gamma 11
Summary: When a Kamen Rider fan hacks the death game of Sword Art Online to give themselves a power up, they never expected all of Helheim Forest to appear with it. Now, watch as the whole of SAO, Kirito and Asuna in particular, deal with the aftereffects of the hack, and the subsequent battles to come for the Forbidden Fruit.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** Sword Art Online, the Kamen Rider franchise, and whatever else is mentioned are not my property. I would like it if they were, but, well… beggars can't be choosers.

 **A/N: Okay, this idea was originally supposed to be a Franchise idea as designed by Takeshi Yamato. However, circumstances proved to be rather fickle in regards to how this was going to be written. I was the guy co-authoring this fic with him, as well as helping to figure out the rest of the franchise, but then he lost his muse for this story. Well, since we already planned a large portion of the story, I decided to take over for him. That was what lead to this being published by yours truly.**

 **Well, since this portion was (originally) written by Takeshi solely, I cannot (originally) claim writing ownership of the prologue at least… *pfft* as if I could claim ownership on any of this. I'm not dumb enough to try thinking of that.**

 **…okay, so I can claim ownership of all but Takeshi's OCs, since he did something he never did in the past and allowed me to use them. I feel lucky, sure, but I also feel that it took a lot of deliberation for him to do so. I also own writing ownership of the second segment of this prologue… well, kinda, in any case.**

 **Well, then… The Wheel Of Fate Is Turning. Rebel 1, Action!**

* * *

 **Kamen Rider: Gaim's Feudal Warfare in Sword Art Online**  
 _by Xamusel_

* * *

Prologue: The Month Between

* * *

Sword Art Online.

A game that was considered a milestone. A breakthrough. The first true Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game.

It was all that… and a Death Trap in the form of a game.

What started as a great thing very quickly soured into a living prison, the creator holding people hostage for no known goal to the general public. However, the stated goal as spoken by the creator was to create a world where he alone was God to the subjects. With that goal complete, the Death Game commenced, already having a couple hundred players killed by concerned relatives ignoring the warning given by the creator.

However… not all hope was lost right away.

The game's creator, Kayaba Akihiko, gave the players one way to escape. The game's world of Aincrad was like a massive tower consisting of 100 floors. If players could clear all 100 floors and defeat the Final Boss at the top of the tower, they would all be safely logged out and returned to the world.

This was easier said than done, however, because even during the game's two month-long beta test, none of the beta testers could even get past floor 10. Getting to floor 100 was going to take quite a bit of time, especially since Kayaba likely made the true version of the game even harder than the Beta.

And then a new complication emerged.

The day after the announcement of the Death Game, strange portals appeared at various locations throughout the first floor. These portals, with borders resembling zippers, led into a strange and wondrous forest. Said forest contained monsters unlike anything ever seen before, that were resistant to common Sword Skills.

However, shortly thereafter, a group of players banded together under the name 'Yggdrasil'. Their goal was to study the mysterious forest, which came to be called Helheim, and the monsters within, to see whether they could be used to help clear the game faster.

A month has passed since the launch of the Death Game and appearance of Helheim Forest, and scouting teams of players have discovered the Floor Dungeon…

* * *

 _Pluck the fruit of heaven._

Unnatural flora was growing at an insane rate, the plants growing ever upward, until they could grow no longer. On each plant was a flower of variable design, with some exceptions actually bearing a strange fruit, one that looked reminiscent of a lock. In the background of the flora was a floating tower that had exactly a hundred levels to it, each level getting narrower as it went up.

On the ground, a horse whinnied as its rider, a man with a single-edged sword to his left hip in a blue armored jumpsuit and an orange-themed over-armor, stared down an opponent across a dirt plain, a man on a motorcycle and in a red armored jumpsuit with banana-themed over-armor and a spear. Both men had followers in terms of quasi-humanoid monsters with their respective colors on their underbelly side, a scant few flying in the air, and a variety of armored figures that were both on the ground and in the air, the figures in the air in exoskeletons that looked like they could form a giant Japanese watermelon, while there were only two figures on either side of the riders.

 _That the world may be dyed in your image._

To the horseman's left, there was a man wearing a deep royal blue armored jumpsuit with a helmet that looked like it had a gold horseshoe for the crest on top of the eye protectors, with a dragon-themed over-armor and a giant broadsword attached to his back. To the horseman's right, there was a woman who wore a crimson armored jumpsuit and a raspberry-themed over-armor, equipped with a gatling gun that was slung over her shoulders.

 _Is that the glory you seek?_

To the biker's left, there was a woman wearing an acorn-themed over-armor over her brown armored jumpsuit, wielding a war mallet in her right hand. To the biker's right, there was a man in a black armored jumpsuit, wearing a pine cone-themed over-armor and wielding a lance with a pine cone-shaped tip.

 _Is that burden one you can bear?_

A man in a red armored jumpsuit and a dark-red cherry-themed over-armor, wielding a pair of identical pistols attached to his hips, ran to a woman in a white armored jumpsuit and a musk melon-themed over-armor. The man stopped a short bit away from her left, turned to face the other figures leading armies, and knelt down next to the woman and looked at her.

At the same time, a woman with blonde hair, closed eyes, and wearing predominantly white clothes was laying on the ground, eyes closed as more of the aforementioned flora grew around her. When the flora reached a certain part of her surroundings, the woman opened her eyes, the left one brown and the right one blood red, as she looked around for a sign as to what to do, before she noticed a strange fruit near her location.

The horseman looked off to his left, to see the woman walk up to a cliffside, holding the strange fruit in her left hand. She had a flower in her hair on the left side of her head, to boot, which was nearly immediately blown out of its position to trigger a charge.

 _Know this. The lives of men are not ours to control, not even our own. We cannot deny the inexorable current of fate that carries us._

As both sides facing each other charged, the third group, itself leading an army as well, prepared to take on the winner of the current battle, its leaders standing upright to get ready.

 _But what if fate itself were to call you…_

Some of the troops were firing on their opposites, each side also losing some of their own, primarily in the air at that.

 _…to change the world? To turn the course of the future?_

The armored figures riding towards each other were content to charge, ignoring the explosions at their sides, even as the battle would be decided by a single strike.

 _You cannot defy your fate. But the fate of the world is in your hands!_

* * *

 **A/N: FINISH!**

 **…okay, I should shut up, shouldn't I?**

 **Anyway, this prologue was looked over by Centurious the Azure and Lily Nadesico, at the very least.**

 **Review corner will start showing up in the chapter after the next at the bottom. That's all I can say about that.**

 **Until We Meet Again.**  
 **~Xamusel**


	2. Chapter 1

**Xamusel: Alright, for those of you who actually stuck around since the prologue was published, I would like to say… thank you for seeing this be a story. It means a lot to Takeshi (who is currently not able to give any major input at present) and I for your support. Nothing wrong with showing support for a story, right, guys?**

 **Now… I'm sure you guys want to know who the Kamen Riders will be for this story. Unfortunately, I am not quite at liberty to say who, not until they show up in a chapter. This is to keep everything fair for you the readers.**

 **Still, with that said, I'm surprised that Takeshi and I even had this idea become fulfilled to begin with. It just… I dunno, it feels surreal, to me. A lot of ideas don't come to the completion stage with us. Does that make any sense to you guys?**

 **Oh, one last note. This story was originally going to use the anime adaptation for the SAO portion, but I discovered the details as mentioned in the Progressive Light Novels. That's what I'll be using for this story for the time being (or for until they quit writing the reboot novels)... for the most part, at least.**

 **Now, then… The Wheel Of Fate Is Turning. Rebel 1, Action!**

* * *

 **Kamen Rider: Gaim's Feudal Warfare in Sword Art Online**  
by Xamusel

* * *

Chapter 001: Transform! The Orange From The Sky?! (Or… How Kamen Rider Gaim came into being)

* * *

 _Tolbana, First Floor of Aincrad_

 _16:00, December 2nd, 2022_

* * *

On the first floor of Aincrad, players were gathering in an ancient Greek-styled theater to discuss a raid on the First Floor Boss Dungeon, which would both clear access to the second floor and show people the game could be beaten.

Among them was a woman, seeming in her mid-20's, watching the group and ruminating on the events of the past month.

Her raven black hair, as long as the small of her back, flowed in the digital wind, keeping itself out of her face in the process. Her aquamarine eyes scanned the meeting group, looking for a suitable person for what she had in mind. Her face was like that of a peach in shape. The clothes she wore, with strawberry patterns on a blue background, resembled a Japanese Noblewoman-type outfit from the Sengoku Jidai, even though such an outfit was supposedly impractical for the battlefield, yet she made it work fairly well. The final thing that would get attention fast was, supposing she decided to wear less formal clothes than her current attire, the fact that she was drop dead sexy… but she hid her curves all too well.

She was Kanzaki, written in the following kanji, 神裂, the head of the Yggdrasil group, the one studying Helheim Forest.

It only made sense, considering what she had done.

In an attempt to make herself stronger, she had only made the game harder for everyone to survive. The best she could do to atone was help people understand how this digital version of the forest worked, and how to safely use the powers it provided.

Clapping interrupted her train of thought, as the event organizer seemed ready to speak up. "Oi, oi, listen up! I'll be starting the conference now!" the organizer, a male player who used in-game hair dye to change his hair color to a deep blue, called out just as a final player, also male (though noticeably younger than her), arrived and sat down. "Thank you, everyone, for responding to my invitation," he continued when the gathering was fully assembled. "My name's Diavel, and my class is, informally, Knight!"

That got a good laugh out of most of the gathered players, even as one of the assembled said, "There's no class system, you know."

"'Knight', he says," another player said amusedly.

"Is this meeting a joke, too?" a third player questioned snidely, though with some amusement in there.

Diavel, who was placating the others with arm gestures, finally gained a serious gleam in his eyes… which gave Kanzaki more reason to focus on him. "Today," he started for real, "on the highest level of this floor, my party discovered the boss room!"

That got everyone's attention. "Seriously?" they asked as one.

"By defeating the floor boss and reaching the second floor," Diavel continued, "we'll be able to show everyone in Starting Town that this game can be cleared!" Clenching a fist in the air to emphasize his point, he added, "It's our responsibility to do so!" Turning around to face the rest, he finished with, "Don't you agree, everyone?"

That had everyone cheering for Diavel's guts to do what he had done. There was even a player who gave a horse whistle to the guy!

Kanzaki smiled. He might very well be the one.

"Okay!" Diavel called out. "Now, I'd like to begin discussing our battle strategy. For starters, we're going to split into parties of six."

That made sense to Kanzaki, so she began looking for a group to form a party with.

"The floor boss can't be defeated with simple parties," Diavel continued. "We'll need to assemble multiple parties to form a raid group!"

* * *

 _A bit earlier…_

* * *

Kirigaya Kazuto, known in-game as Kirito, was a lone wolf-type player. Of course, since he was a beta tester for the game, there was a lot that he could do on his own that normally required a lot of experimentation to figure out for a regular player.

Then again, considering that he was the only player to have gotten to the fourteenth floor within the two month beta period, that was saying something.

So far, he had been listening and agreeing with Diavel, even admiring the guy's ability to inspire others to actio—

"Okay!" Diavel called out. "Now, I'd like to begin discussing our battle strategy. For starters, we're going to split into parties of six."

Kirito started panicking. It was as if the phrase "parties of six" was anathema to him… which, considering that he was a lone wolf-type, was probably not too far off.

"The floor boss can't be defeated with simple parties," Diavel continued. "We'll need to assemble multiple parties to form a raid group!"

Kirito looked around as he panicked, seeing the rest of the players in the lower levels of the seating arrangements were going about forming parties, and there was nobody on his row that could… party… with… him… Wait, hold up, he almost forgot about Asuna! The girl he saved earlier that day!

Turning to face the left, he saw her, wearing her cloak to obscure her face. His mind, while he looked at her, went back to early in the morning.

* * *

 _First Floor Labyrinth_

 _04:00, December 2nd, 2022_

* * *

Kirito was carefully going through the labyrinth, making sure to look around for any particular oddities about the dungeon that he had found himself in. It wasn't like he was expecting a Player to overkill a monster with a basic Sword Skill like the «Linear» in this dungeon, right? As he walked to the bottom of the labyrinth, he saw—

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" a girl in a cloak called out as she charged Level 6 monster called a «Ruin Kobold Trooper» with her rapier and use of the «Linear» Sword Skill, dealing not quite a lot of damage to it.

—exactly what he was not expecting. 'What the… why is she doing that?' Kirito thought. 'Surely she knows how to just kill it with a single thrust of her blade, right?'

Kirito didn't exactly get his answer just yet, even though he saw the girl charge the «Ruin Kobold Trooper» while using «Linear» once again, dealing some more damage to it. As the Kobold tried to target her again, she performed another «Linear», this time overkilling it.

'…it's official,' Kirito thought. 'I'm going to need to step in and figure out what's going on here.' With that said, he walked over to the girl and asked, "Hey, why did you fight that «Ruin Kobold Trooper» with somehow underpowered uses of «Linear»? You know how to kill it with a normal attack, right?"

The girl looked at him, some form of surprise showing on her face, as she replied, "I can't. I can only kill certain monsters with a normal attack, but for every other monster, I need to use Sword Skills."

Kirito looked taken aback somewhat. "Um…" he started, before he thought of what to say. "What Level are you?"

"Level 9," the girl answered.

With a low whistle, Kirito said, "Well, you certainly have a large stash of stat points to spend, so it seems."

"Stat points?"

"…you don't know what stat points are? Have you played an MMO before?"

"I'm afraid not," the girl answered with a shake of her head.

Kirito felt like facepalming from this. "Okay, this will be an important lesson," he muttered.

"Huh?"

"Listen up, miss… what's your username?"

"Asuna."

"Asuna, thanks. Let me start teaching you about how to play this game, then."

"O…kay…?" Asuna asked in confusion.

"Lesson number one," Kirito said, raising a finger to emphasize the point. "The Status Menu. When you select this menu, you can see where you can increase your attributes, and how many stat points you have to do so with."

Asuna fiddled with the menu to find the Status Menu, before she saw what she needed to. "Okay, what now?"

"Well…"

* * *

 _Back in the present_

* * *

Of course, he couldn't figure out how to give her all the lessons that he planned to give her, especially since they needed to get out of the labyrinth faster than one could say "Bob's your uncle" just when he got to lesson number four's completion. Still, Asuna knew that the monster would respawn, so…

Kirito shook his head. 'Not important right now!' he thought. With that, he made a choice, one that would be important for the time to come. He was in the process of moving over to Asuna and speaking with her when—

"Excuse me, would you be willing to form a party with me?"

Kirito and Asuna looked in the direction of the speaker, before Asuna pointed at herself and asked softly, "Are you talking to me, miss?"

The one who posed the party question, Kanzaki, looked at them both equally. "Both of you, actually," she answered. "Everyone else seemed to be gathering around themselves, so…"

"I understand," Kirito answered. "So, who's going to be the party leader?"

Kanzaki and Asuna looked at each other for a brief moment, before turning to face Kirito.

"M-Me?!" he questioned. "But why?!"

"You have an air about you," Kanzaki replied. "One that tells me you will become a great leader someday."

Asuna nodded in agreement, not saying anything else for the time being.

Kirito sighed aggravatedly. "Okay, fine," he relented. He then fiddled with his menu and sent the invite to Kanzaki first, which she accepted, showing her name in kanji. "Breaker of God? Is that what your name is?" he asked in confusion.

"That's… what it translates to, yes," she said. "Call me Kanzaki, though."

Kirito nodded, before he turned to Asuna and sent a party invite to her, too. "Here's hoping you can stay alive, Asuna," Kirito said.

"R-right," she replied, accepting the party invite.

"I take it you two know each other?" Kanzaki asked.

"We met earlier this morning, a few hours after midnight," Kirito answered. "I was trying to find some stuff in a labyrinth, she happened to use «Linear» on a «Ruin Kobold Trooper» a few times, and I learned she was a newbie Solo Player. I had to rescue her from the labyrinth when the «Ruin Kobold Trooper» was about to respawn."

"I see," Kanzaki replied. She turned to Asuna. "I assume you know what you're getting into with this meeting?" she asked.

"Y-yeah," Asuna answered. "I want to help clear the game, to make sure nobody in Starting Town is stuck like I was, waiting for help that might or might not come."

Kanzaki nodded. "A fine goal," she said.

"By the way," Asuna asked, "where did you get your outfit? It looks really pretty!"

Before Kirito or Kanzaki could answer that question, however, Diavel called out once again to get everyone's attention, "All right! Are you guys done partying? Now—"

"Hold it right there!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the person who spoke that, who was standing at the top of the seats available looking down at Diavel, most of them wondering "how did he get there without us noticing anything?!" Others wondered "is he going to deadlock our attempts to get out?" However, everyone that was already there wondered "who is he, and why wasn't he here earlier?"

When the man who said what he did noticed he had everyone's attention, he started jumping down the seats that were empty, all the way until he made it to the theater floor. When he stopped, he turned himself to face Diavel and hitched a thumb at himself to say, "The name's Kibaou. There's something I need to get off my chest."

Up in the seats, Kirito leaned in forward, a bit confused as to where this was going.

Turning to face the crowd, Kibaou declared, "I'm positive that there are some amongst you that should be apologizing to those who've died so far." With that, he thrust a finger at the gathered crowd in general, not aiming at anyone in particular.

Kirito looked down in slight guilt, since he had a feeling that he knew who Kibaou was talking about… people who were like him, as in Beta Testers in the game before its official launch.

"Kibaou-san," Diavel spoke up, getting the other man's attention, "the people you are referring to are the beta testers, correct?"

"Of course I am!" Kibaou declared, attempting to get in Diavel's face from a few feet away without moving his feet. "On the day this crappy game started, the beta testers disappeared, abandoning all us beginners. They monopolized the good hunting grounds and profitable quests, prioritizing themselves over others. And afterwards, they feigned ignorance for doing so." Growling this time at the gathered crowd, Kibaou yelled out, "Some of you are sure to be beta testers! We should have them kneel in apology and hand over the money and items they've been hoarding! I cannot and will not entrust my life to such people in a party!"

Kirito looked especially downtrodden when he heard that, shaking in his seat the more he heard about Kibaou's anger, causing both his current party members to pat him on the back, without knowing why he was doing so. However, before they could ask what was wrong—

"Mind if I speak?" a man of African descent called out, raising his hand as he did so, even getting Kirito and his party to look at him in surprise. When the man made his way to the floor, he looked directly at Kibaou and said, "My name is Agil. Kibaou-san, basically you're saying that the beta testers should take responsibility for the many deaths by apologizing and offering reparations because they didn't look after us new players, right?"

"Y-Yeah," Kibaou answered, using all his nerves to look at Agil… who reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket book.

"This is the guidebook," Agil said, "I believe you have one too. It's up for free at the item shop, after all."

"I do," Kibaou said, unknowingly digging his own grave. "What about it?"

"The people who distributed these," Agil said, "were former beta testers."

Practically everyone except Kirito was floored by the revelation that the beta testers weren't evil people to begin with.

Agil wasn't done speaking, as he turned to face the crowd and said, "Listen, this information was available to everyone, yet many players died. What I thought we'd be doing here was planning how to fight the boss using what we learned from these deaths." With that, he turned around to face Kibaou, looking him in the eye to dare him to say more.

As it turned out, just as Kibaou was walking to the seats and about to sit down, another player, a man with brown hair and green eyes in traditional starter gear, stood up. "If I may," he said, walking onto the stage floor. Upon turning to face the players assembled, he cleared his throat and said, "I'll cut to the chase here. There are things in this game that most likely hadn't been here in the beta." The rest of the gathered players were about to voice their concerns on that matter when the new speaker raised his hand. "I know, I know," he said. "Why would I mention this at a time like now? The answer is simple." Holding out his own copy of the guidebook, he said, "I'm willing to bet that none of you can find a single reference to the phenomena known as the 'zipper portal'."

Kanzaki looked slightly sorrowful when the 'zipper portal' was mentioned, something that Kirito noticed, but no one else did, and Kirito figured he could ask later.

Diavel looked at the new speaker and asked, "Excuse me, who are you?"

The new player turned to Diavel and said, "The name's Yamato, and I'm something of a gaming nut. So far, I noticed things that not very many people had noticed about the guide book in correlation to the 'zipper portal' that occurs every once in a short while." Turning back to the crowd, he said, "I had a beta tester brother who—"

That caused Kibaou to move back to Yamato's position, getting right up into his face and yelling, "Have your brother pay up for leaving us newbies to fend for ourselves, then, the bastard!"

Yamato kneed Kibaou in the balls when he heard that, shouting out, "He's dead, you insufferable jackass!" With Kibaou on the ground, Yamato forced himself to calm down, breathing slowly in and out.

Diavel looked at Yamato carefully and asked, "What happened to your brother, if you don't mind my asking?"

Yamato looked from the crowd to Diavel and answered, "I was learning from him about how to play this game… he and I were going to one of the towns near the Starting Town, when we discovered the zipper portal for the first time. He told me to stay out of the portal while he went to investigate, while he gave me all his good gear except for his sword that he had equipped at the time for safe keeping. We were in a party at the time, and I was waiting outside for him for about five minutes… before his health gauge drained itself in one second!" Looking at the crowd, he said, "Don't let my brother Takeru's death be for nothing… please!" At this point, he was actively tearing up, his head down as his eyes were closed.

Kanzaki was tearing up as well, knowing what must have happened. 'Even the strongest of the forest's inhabitants can't kill a player in one blow like that… he must have eaten one of the fruits,' she thought. 'I… I'm so sorry, Yamato-san… because of me, your brother is…!'

Diavel looked forlorn at the loss, as he said, "I'm sorry for your loss. I think we'd better be careful about what we'll face on the other side of the portals." Turning to face the other players, he said, "In all fairness, everyone, don't do anything that will provoke whatever monsters are on the other side of the portals!"

Everyone nodded solemnly, even as Kanzaki made a decision. "I… I can provide a little information," she said. "I'm part of the Yggdrasil group, which has been studying those portals and the forest that lies beyond them, in hope of a way to use them. We… we still don't know much, but we do know a few of the dangers - it can be fairly tough to spread the word, though."

Diavel looked at Kanzaki and asked, "What's your name?"

"Kanzaki," she replied. "I'm… in essence I'm the leader and founder of Yggdrasil, given that when I first saw the portals I knew they needed to be investigated, but carefully." She wasn't saying the full truth, but enough that they would be able to listen to her. "Again, finding a proper information network to disseminate the information rapidly has been kind of problematic, but we do what we can."

Diavel nodded in understanding. "How about we speak in private after this is done, then?" he asked her.

She nodded. "Very well," she said. Turning to Yamato, she continued, "I am very sorry for your brother's death, Yamato-san. If we had been able to spread the knowledge we have learned faster, he might still be alive."

Yamato sniffled in reply, nodding in a sign of understanding what she said.

"I will mention that Yggdrasil has given names to the portals and the forest beyond, though," Kanzaki informed. "We call the portals 'cracks', and the forest beyond we call 'Helheim'."

Kirito glanced at Kanzaki in surprise, before he schooled his features pretty carefully. He wasn't about to call her out on ripping off a TV series that was on the air from October of 2013 to September of 2014… or what was she doing?

Diavel took the time to reach into his things and pull out a guidebook of his own. "Okay," he said, getting everyone's attention. "May I continue?" With the nods of everyone capable of doing so, he turned to Agil and asked, "Could you please drag Kibaou-san to a seat and make sure he sits down?"

"I'll do it," Agil nodded in reply, before doing just that.

"Yamato, please have a seat as well," Diavel said to the grieving player.

Yamato nodded, before he walked back to his seat, his resolve hardening.

Once the gathering was ready, Diavel continued the meeting with, "About the boss… The truth is, the guidebook that was mentioned earlier had information about it in its latest version." Ignoring the surprised looks and murmurs, he opened the book and said, "According to this, the boss is called «Illfang the Kobold Lord». Also, he has mobs called «Ruin Kobold Sentinels» guarding him. His arms consist of an axe and a buckler. When the last of his four health bars becomes red, he switches to a curved sword called a talwar. His attack patterns also change."

"Amazing…" one of the gathered players breathed out.

"That information's thorough…" another player said.

"Wow…" a third uttered.

Diavel closed the guidebook and placed it in his right hand. "That concludes the conference," he said, before he remembered something. "Lastly, concerning loot distribution… the money is automatically distributed, EXP goes to the party that lands the last hit, and items belong to whoever gets them. Any objections?"

As a whole, most of the players said, "Sounds good."

"Okay," Diavel said, "we'll leave at ten in the morning tomorrow." Waving his right arm, after putting away the guidebook, he exclaimed, "You're all dismissed!" As the players started moving about, Diavel called out to Kanzaki, "Oi, Kanzaki, don't forget about our own one-on-one meeting!"

She nodded. "Right," she said. Turning to Kirito and Asuna, she asked, "Can you wait outside for me? I shouldn't be long."

Kirito and Asuna shared a look, before nodding. "Okay, we'll wait for you outside, then," Kirito said.

She nodded. "Thank you," she said, before walking over to Diavel.

* * *

 _A bit later_

 _At a nearby inn…_

* * *

Diavel nodded at Kanzaki for following him to the inn. "Thanks for following me here," he said.

"You're welcome, Diavel-san," Kanzaki replied. "I assume you wish to know more about Helheim Forest."

Diavel shook his head, before he said, "I recall enough from modern media to remember the Forest, thank you very much. My questions for you are of a different nature than that, actually."

Her eyes widened, then narrowed. "I see," she said. "You wish to know why I would name an in-game location after a location from a Kamen Rider series… or rather, why a Kamen Rider location would exist in SAO. Am I right?"

Diavel nodded this time. "I believe that the game was hacked, but I can't prove that," he said. "However, I can prove that you benefited from the hacker's job in some way. Isn't that right… Kamen Rider Zangetsu?"

Kanzaki's eyes widened once more. "H… how…?" she asked.

Diavel looked at her waist, which had the Sengoku Driver for Zangetsu on it. "The Driver was a big giveaway, I'll be honest," he said.

She took a breath, and nodded. "I… I see…" she said. "Well, I guess it makes sense… most of the people in Aincrad just think it's a strange-looking belt. It's… nice to meet another Kamen Rider fan."

"Charmed, I'm sure," Diavel said. "Now, my knowledge of Gaim is a bit spotty, but I'm going to assume you have more Sengoku Drivers in your group's possession, right?"

Kanzaki nodded. "We do, yes," she said. "Part of why I was attending the meeting was to see if anyone there was capable and worthy of a Driver - we only have some of the unique Drivers available: Gaim, Baron, and a couple that from our analysis seem to be brand new. We're working on studying the Lockseeds and fine-tuning the Drivers, to maybe allow for Genesis Drivers and Kurokage Troopers, but it's slow going."

"I can understand," Diavel replied. "If I were in your shoes, I'd want to make sure everyone had the right gear as thoroughly as possible, too. At the very least, you have the right idea for this."

She nodded. "Thank you," she said. "And… about Yamato-san's brother… I'm sure you know just what happened to him, since one-hit killing was almost impossible for Inves even in the show."

Diavel sighed, before he said, "I'm afraid that is part of where my knowledge is spotty. However, if I can remember it, I'll tell you."

Kanzaki nodded. "Alright," she said. "Still…" she accessed her inventory and pulled out another Driver. "I do think you would be capable of using this properly. There was only one other person at the meeting who I felt would do as well as you will."

Diavel nodded, before he took the Driver in hand. "Alright," he said. "I take it you want me to look for my own Lockseeds, right?"

She nodded. "Yes," she said. "Obviously, you'll be able to find them in Helheim. And… be careful."

Diavel gave a cocky grin when he heard that. "Don't worry, 'careful' is my middle name!" he exclaimed.

If only he knew what was to come ahead… and how he had no part to play in it.

* * *

 _Later that evening…_

* * *

Kirito and Asuna were taking the time to sit together, eating some digital food and learning a bit more about each other in the process.

"So, let me get this straight," Kirito said. "Your mother, a woman who doesn't really care for her own children, did everything she could ever since you were younger to make you the ultimate housewife for someone, and your brother is the only one in your whole family who cares enough to keep you out of that scandal in the making?"

"Yes," Asuna said somberly. "I don't know why I have to marry the guy, but I'm supposed to, according to mother."

Kirito sighed in frustration. "If I were to ever meet your mother, I'd have to restrain myself from assaulting her for her treatment of you…"

Asuna looked at Kirito with concern in her eyes, at least, under the hood she was wearing anyway. "Why…?"

Kirito looked at Asuna. "Why, what?" he asked, confused.

"Why would you do that for me?" Asuna asked in clarification. "For someone you just met today, at that."

Kirito felt a bit taken aback, before he scratched the back of his neck. "I dunno," he replied sheepishly. "To be honest, I would rather not see you, or anyone else for that matter, go through what made you what you are right now. It's… I dunno, not right to allow that to happen."

Asuna blinked in surprise when she heard that. "For real?" she asked.

"Yeah," Kirito said. "Still—"

At that moment, a fragrant smell hit Asuna's nostrils. "What the… what's that smell?" she asked.

"Huh?" Kirito asked. "What are you…?" He then caught the smell as well. "I have no idea… but I think we're about to find out," he told Asuna. With that, he got up and started walking to the location of the smell.

Asuna got up, following him. The smell was so strange… and yet pleasant, too.

When the two of them made it to where they thought was the source, they discovered…

"No way…" Kirito breathed out. "A crack to Helheim Forest?!"

"Wow… it really does look like a zipper," Asuna remarked. "How strange…"

Meanwhile, Kirito thought to himself, 'This is bad. Whoever thought to put Kamen Rider Gaim physics into this game really went out of their way to mess with the player population by means of using Helheim as described in the show!'

Asuna, meanwhile, slowly walked towards the portal, and then through it, almost as if entranced by the strange world that awaited within…

When Kirito noticed the disaster in the making, he shook his head rapidly, before he rushed off after Asuna. "Asuna, wait!"

Inside the forest, Asuna looked around in wonder. "Wow…" she said. "This is… so detailed… even more so than the rest of the game… it almost looks real…"

While this was going on, Kirito looked practically all over the place while still staying within sight of the crack, looking for Asuna. "Asuna, where are you?!" he called out.

Hearing Kirito shouting for her seemed to shake her out of her trance, as she called back, "Kirito?"

Kirito looked to his 1:30 and saw Asuna a fair distance away, before he cursed his stupidity for not realizing she'd be that close to the crack sooner. "C'mon! We gotta get out of here, before the crack closes on us!" he called to her, before running to meet her. "I'll guide you out properly, okay?"

"O-okay," Asuna replied. "Is… is this place really that dangerous? It seems so beautiful…"

"It's as dangerous as it is beautiful, Asuna," Kirito said. "Don't doubt that part." Just as he was about to lead her away, his mind started playing tricks on him, just when he caught sight of a Helheim Fruit. 'What the… it's as if I should be eating one of these…' He picked a couple off of a tree and was about to bite into one when—

*ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!*

That shook Kirito out of his stupor. Turning around, he saw a Byakko Inves right behind him and Asuna! "C'mon, Asuna! Run!"

"R-right!" Asuna replied, as she took off running away from the monster, following close behind Kirito..

When they got close to the exit, they stopped for a while, resting a bit to catch their breath. "Dammit…" Kirito said. "This is not going well for us tonight…"

"What… what was that…?" Asuna asked. "I've… never seen a monster like that before… is that why this place is so dangerous…?"

"Partially," Kirito answered. "Trust me, that was just one of the many lieutenants of the monsters in this forest."

Asuna looked surprised. "How would you know that?" she asked. "Are you a part of that 'Yggdrasil' group Kanzaki made?"

"I know this because I watched a TV show that was on the air a few years back," Kirito answered, shaking his head as he did so. "I don't think you'd care for it, though, since it was generally a boy's show… Kamen Rider Gaim."

"Kamen… Rider?" Asuna asked. "But… but what is a location from a TV show doing in a game that wasn't connected to that show at all?"

"Hell if I know, Asuna," Kirito answered. "I think someone hacked the game for some reason, but I can't prove that one worth a damn, so I'm stuck with not being able to do a single thing about it…" With that, he kicked his foot out, exclaiming, "This BITES!" However, when his foot was raised, his realized that he kicked a belt buckle that was on the ground. "Eh?"

"Huh?" Asuna asked. "A belt buckle…? Hey, wasn't that Kanzaki woman wearing something like this…?"

Kirito placed both his Helheim Fruits into his left hand as he picked up the belt buckle with his right. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" he exclaimed, examining the belt buckle closely. "I can't believe that someone managed to get a Sengoku Driver here!"

Asuna looked confused again - something that seemed to be becoming normal for her. "What's a… sen… senyo… sengu…?" she asked, trying to pronounce the name of the Driver.

"Asuna, don't you know how to say the name of the Warring States era?" Kirito asked her.

"Oh, right, Sengoku," she said. "So that's what this… Driver thing… is named after?"

"Actually, there was a person who was named Sengoku Ryoma in the original Kamen Rider Gaim, and he named the Drivers after himself," Kirito explained. "I'm not sure who was supposed to get this Driver, but I have to check something quick."

Asuna looked confused again, wondering what he had to check.

Kirito placed the Driver on his waist, which extended a belt around him, as well as placed an image on the faceplate on the left side of the Driver. When he looked to see whose Driver it was in-show, he gaped. "I'm Kamen Rider Gaim?!"

At that moment, the Helheim Fruits turned into a pair of Lockseeds, for Orange and Ichigo Arms specifically.

"EH?!" Asuna asked in shock. "Did… did those fruits you were holding turn into locks?"

"Yeah…" Kirito said, before he felt that they weren't alone. Turning to look in the direction of his 9:00, he saw the Elementary Inves plodding about and trying to eat Helheim Fruits. He then—

*ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!*

—heard and saw the Byakko Inves come up to them!

"RUN!" Kirito exclaimed.

Asuna didn't bother to reply, as the pair ran from the Inves.

When they saw the crack that was their entrance to Helheim Forest, they immediately got out the way they came in, before Kirito turned his head to look for a good getaway spot. Upon looking at his 9:00 again, he yelled as he ran, "This way!"

"Right!" Asuna replied, following Kirito as they ran.

Taking the opportunity to run as far as they could, Kirito lead Asuna over to a part of Tolbana that was near where they had gathered with the others for Diavel's meeting request. They then found a sort of refuge in an abandoned warehouse district-styled portion of town, while the Byakko Inves began gathering energy to attempt to kill the Players, who were unfortunate enough to draw its ire.

"Okay…" Asuna panted after a while. "I… I think we lost it…"

At that moment, Kirito was just about to facepalm when the Byakko Inves proved Asuna wrong, having gathered enough energy to cause energy vines to cut into the walls of the buildings around them. "This is not my day at all…" he muttered.

"Wh… what do we do now…?" Asuna asked, worried.

Kirito looked out in the direction of the Byakko Inves, before he gripped the Orange Lockseed in his left hand, his right hand on his sword's hilt. After a moment of contemplation, he turned to face Asuna and said, "I'll distract it for you, Asuna. You run while I do so."

"I-I can't abandon you, Kirito!" Asuna cried out. "You're one of the first people outside of my brother to actually consider standing up for me, and I…!"

At that moment, the Byakko Inves began pouring more energy into the attack, prompting Kirito to look in that direction for a short bit. When he looked at Asuna, he said, "I don't want the both of us to die in a safe place like this town! I'll hold it off while you get somebody, anybody, to help put this mad beast down!" With that, he rushed off to fight the monster.

"KIRITO!" Asuna cried out as he ran off, before she turned to get help.

Something told her he would need it.

* * *

 _At that same time…_

* * *

Kirito ran right in front of the Byakko Inves, stopping a few yards away, and cried out, "Come and get me, bakemono!" With that, he ran the direction the Inves was facing, making sure to jump over whatever crates and other such containers he could. While he did that, however, the Inves ran right through the containers as if they weren't Immortal Objects like in normal games.

Soon, Kirito found himself stuck between a wooden wall and the Byakko Inves. He turned around and drew his sword, deciding to forego the use of Sword Skills, especially if what he knew of Inves was true. Still, he drew his Anneal Blade and swung at it, barely knocking at it with the blade. "You little—" he cried out while going for a second swing, only for the Inves to knock it aside and out of his grasp for the time being. It then grabbed him by the collar and tossed him through the wooden wall, breaking it down with his body weight!

Kirito grunted in pain, even though it was just a reactionary thing for him to do. When he got up, however, he saw that the Byakko Inves was just a few feet away now, which meant that he was in deep trouble.

Switching the hand holding his Orange Lockseed, he then made a decision that would forever impact the rest of his life… with a press of a button on the Orange Lockseed, he started becoming Gaim.

 **"Orange!** **"** the Lockseed called out, the lock part of the item opening up, even as Japanese war horns blared out.

A zipper noise came from up in the air, even though Kirito already knew what he was getting this time. The Inves, however, looked up in surprise.

Kirito, with a cry of "Henshin!", placed his Orange Lockseed in the slot on his Sengoku Driver right away and locked the Lockseed in place. **"** **Lock On!"**

"Okay, bakemono, you're going down!" Kirito cried out as he used the knife-like lever to cut into the Orange and open it up.

 **"SOIYA!"**

At that moment, a metallic orange fell from the sky and landed on his head, the Lockseed calling out, **"** **Orange Arms! Hanamichi On Stage!** **"** With that, the orange began to fold into armor sections on him, covering the top part of his torso. When he was officially ready to be revealed, there was a sword that looked like it was a hilt attached to a giant orange slice in his right hand, a sword that looked like it ate a gun in a quasi-scabbard on his left hip, and he was wearing a blue bodysuit with a samurai helmet-styled mask that had an orange slice on the visor.

Deciding to not give the Byakko Inves any quarter, he rushed the monster and sliced at it with the sword in his right hand, the Daidaimaru. Fortunately for Kirito, he didn't lose his blade right off the bat when he did that, but it wasn't easy to use Daidaimaru like that. While the Byakko Inves was attempting to hunt him down, Kirito dodged a swipe from the monster's clawed hand, doing what he could to stay up and at it.

While the Inves was able to tank a lot of the damage dealt, it just wasn't meant to withstand all the damage of the world, as evidenced when Kirito noticed that it had a health bar that was slowly going down with each hit. Of course, before Kirito could celebrate that fact, the Inves decided to up its game by charging at him! He brought up the Daidaimaru to block, only for the Inves to knock it away, before gripping his neck with one hand.

Kirito, fortunately, anticipated such a move as he used his right hand to grab the sword that looked like it ate a gun, the Musou Saber, and sliced at the Inves with it to make it let go of him. Moving to recollect his Daidaimaru, he held onto both as if with practiced ease, before rushing into combat against the Byakko Inves, attempting to slice at it before it did anything like, say—

*ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!* *FWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!*

—jump onto higher ground than he was at… by about 27 meters.

"Crap! Not fair!" Kirito called out, before he rushed over to where the Byakko Inves was, which was stopped by the monster sending energy vines at the area surrounding him. Once he took a look at the damage, he grimaced. "Okay," he said, "I don't think anyone's willing to pay for the repair fees on this town's damages, so I'd better kick the monster's ass while I still can!" With that, he jumped to a level 15 meters higher than he was at earlier, before he started running and jumping to reach the level the Byakko Inves was at.

When he got to the Byakko Inves' level, he raced on over to the monster, making sure to attempt to slice and dice the beast with his blades. While he attempted that, he paid close attention to his surroundings, which included a few flights of stairs that led down to certain parts of the area. When he looked for areas to finish the fight at—

*SMACK!*

—he got sucker punched to the jaw and forced onto his back for a bit.

Instead of complaining this time, however, Kirito prepared to do a kick that would propel himself back to his feet. As the Inves walked towards him, he waited for it to stop moving, which it did at just the right spot. At that moment, he jumped up to his feet, while knocking the monster back.

"Alright!" Kirito exclaimed, before he remembered the Musou Saber's feature of acting like a gun, too. Priming the gun, he pulled the trigger all six times, each shot hitting the Inves in the chest. At that moment, he put the Daidaimaru and the Musou Saber together by combining their two ends, forming a naginata of a sort. When he moved to strike the Byakko Inves, however, the monster knocked him down to the ground some 15 meters below! At that point, however… Kirito heard footsteps? Looking up to see who was walking towards him, he saw—

"Asuna?!" he cried out.

Indeed, it was a woman who looked much like Asuna, except that this woman's hair was blonde, and her right eye was a blood red, while the left was brown. Besides which, her outfit consisted of a white top without shoulder straps and somewhat attached sleeves, a pearl necklace that had strings of pearls going down the front, white pants, brown boots, a black belt, and, if one looked right, a set of undergarments that looked dark purple… Kirito blushed when he realized what he thought he saw.

"Be warned," 'Asuna' spoke up. "Your choice will now turn the course of fate."

"Is that you, Asuna?!" Kirito cried out for clarification purposes.

'Asuna' ignored the question, saying as she walked down the stairs, "Continue down this path, and there shall be no turning back. You will have to fight until the bitter end. Until the world is dyed in your colors."

"If that's…" Kirito began to say, before the Byakko Inves dropped down to remind him of its presence. Rushing to protect her, he faced the Inves before exclaiming, "If that's what it takes to protect you!" Internally, however, Kirito thought, 'Why the hell did I say THAT?! I just met her earlier today!'

As if understanding what he was doing, 'Asuna' reached to the Orange Lockseed and unlocked it from the Sengoku Driver, while it went **"** **Lock Off!"**

"Huh?" Kirito said, before 'Asuna' placed the Lockseed in his left hand.

'Asuna' then did something Kirito would never have expected anyone to do to him… she pecked his helmet's cheek with a kiss!

Before Kirito could question why she gave him a kiss, however, the Byakko Inves rushed at the two of them and started to strike at him! Fortunately, he noticed what was going on, so he brought up his naginata to block the attack just in time. As he parried the attack, he also slammed the Inves off the building and onto the ground below, which he followed up by jumping down to reach the monster. Once he reached the ground and stood up, he turned to face 'Asuna' and saw that she was pointing at a spot on his Musou Saber part of the naginata, which reminded him of a finishing move for Kazuraba Kouta from Kamen Rider Gaim.

Placing the Orange Lockseed on the weapon, he placed the lock into position, hearing a call of **"** **Lock On!** **"** from the Lockseed. Looking momentarily to see if 'Asuna' was still there, he noticed that she was gone, as according to the first episode of Gaim… wait, what?

 **"1! 10! 100! 1000!** **"** was the counting sequence for the finisher before Kirito noticed that the Byakko Inves was trying another energy vine attack on him, which he blocked by spinning the naginata around in a circle in front of him. When the Inves noticed that its attack didn't work, Kirito called out, "Eat this!" With that, he sliced through the air with each end of his naginata, the slashes going through the air and hitting the monster, creating a sphere of orange energy that kept it trapped, as well as lowering its health gauge to the yellow from nearly completely in the green.

Lowering his Daidaimaru part of the naginata to the ground, Kirito heard the blade call out, **"** **Orange Charge!** **"** With a wordless roar, he charged the monster, slicing the orange sphere and the monster across the waist… and thus ending the Byakko Inves with an explosion and three orange slices flying away from the scene.

Unlocking his Orange Lockseed off of the Musou Saber portion, he then placed it back on his Sengoku Driver, before he closed the Lockseed's face. With that, he transformed back into being Kirito… before he walked back to collect his Anneal Blade. Along the way—

"KIRITO!" Asuna called out as she ran toward him. "Are you alright? What happened with the monster?"

"Asuna…" Kirito said, unsure of what to say to her for a few seconds. "I don't know if you'll believe me…"

"I'm honestly not sure what to believe, myself," came another female voice, causing Kirito to turn to see Kanzaki striding towards them… and his attention was drawn to the Sengoku Driver on her waist bearing Zangetsu's Rider Indicator.

"Kanzaki, you mean… you're Zangetsu?" Kirito asked in disbelief.

"I am," she replied, holding up a Melon Lockseed briefly before putting it away. "And you have Gaim's Driver, despite me giving it to Diavel-san… that idiot must have eaten one of the fruits… 'careful is my middle name', my ass…"

Kirito's eyes widened in horror. "Th… then that means I…" he said, before rushing over to a bush and proceeding to retch.

"If he was the Inves you fought, then he was already dead," Kanzaki spoke, sadly. "Just like in Kamen Rider Gaim, eating a Helheim Fruit will turn you into an Inves… this kills you instantly, both in the game and in the real world, as far as I can tell. All you were doing was granting his spirit final rest, Kirito-san. Keep that in mind."

Kirito finished retching after a while, before he stood and turned to face Kanzaki. "What must I do to ensure nobody else suffers like what Diavel did?" he questioned her.

Kanzaki looked him over, nodding once. "I knew it," she whispered to herself. "He did have the power and will to use one."

"Huh?" Kirito asked.

"Just thinking out loud," Kanzaki replied, shaking her head briefly. "Anyway, Kirito-san, there are two things you can do: First, join Yggdrasil. Help us study Helheim and its powers and utilize them to help everyone escape Aincrad."

"And the second?" Kirito asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The first Floor Dungeon still needs to be cleared, and Illfang the Kobold Lord still needs to be defeated," Kanzaki stated. "But with Diavel now dead, the clearing group needs a new leader… and I can see the qualities needed for that leader in your eyes, Kirito-san."

Kirito tried to deny it, but before the words could even leave his mouth, he saw that Asuna was looking at him with a look of… was that longing? So far, he couldn't figure it out, but he knew that he needed to give an answer. Letting loose a sigh, he said, "Alright, fine. I'll be a part of the currently unofficial guild Yggdrasil, and I'll also lead the clearing group through the motions of killing Illfang the Kobold Lord."

Kanzaki smiled. "I am glad to hear it, Kirito-sa-" she began to say.

"However," Kirito interrupted, raising his right hand. "I don't think the current plan will suffice as Diavel had it in mind. This means we'll need people to train until they're at minimum five levels higher than they were before I became leader. This doesn't mean that I'm being a drill sergeant for any reason, it just means I want everyone to survive properly."

Kanzaki nodded. "That sounds reasonable," she said. She then smiled. "I believe we will have greater success with you in charge than Diavel-san."

'And,' she thought privately, 'your skills will be useful to help me make up for the selfish act I made… that has placed us all at greater risk than before…'

Kirito took a look at Kanzaki, before he looked at Asuna. "Are we still good for partying up?" he asked them both.

"I am good with that," Kanzaki replied. "Better to have both Kamen Riders in a single party, after all."

"I'm fine with partying up with you, too, Kirito," Asuna replied. "I… I feel safer around you, for some reason…"

Kirito sighed, putting a hand in his hair, before he said, "Okay, I understand." Removing the hand from his hair, he walked over to retrieve his Anneal Blade, saying, "It's time to get ready, then."

* * *

 **Xamusel: DISTORTION FINISH!**

 **…well, this is a thing. Still, if anyone's curious, I was aiming for referencing Kamen Rider Ghost and Jyuoh Red, Takeru being Tenkuuji Takeru and Yamato being the main character of Animal Sentai Jyuohger. No intentional cameos to Digimon (as was originally noted by Takeshi in the original version of the notes), though in hindsight, that was what it turned into.**

 **Anyway, yeah, if you're familiar with Kamen Rider Gaim, you'll be aware that we revealed who Kirito killed way sooner than Kouta did for the Byakko Inves… or was it the same guy? Just my way of keeping you on your toes.**

 **Now, if anyone's curious, the story will be updated at the beginning of February. This is not so that I can hold the next chapter hostage for reviews, even though it's already done, but so that I can keep an honest update schedule about this and finish work on the next chapters after Chapter 002. I'll possibly update again at the beginning of March with the chapter after that.**

 **Oh, one last thing, everyone. I have a poll up that I would like you all to vote in. It's on my profile page right now. Hope to see your votes within a week's time.**

 **Until we meet again… farewell.  
~Xamusel**


	3. Chapter 2

**Xamusel: Yo, everyone! I hope you guys had a nice month of January, because you all get this new chapter now! :D**

 **The schedule will be like this for the rest of the story's history, give or take, unless something were to come up and derail the plans I have for updates.**

 **Oh, right, remember the little teaser I made at the end of the last chapter? That was to make you guys think… and to see if you can correctly guess what we plan to do about the situation. No, I'm not spoiling for you guys, so don't expect it any time in the near future.**

 **Also, we get to see who will be chosen as the Kumon Kaito analogue, a couple scenes in. I won't say who is chosen up here… that's for you guys to read on your own.**

 **Are you guys ready to PARTY?!**

 **Let's read!**

… **er, actually, let's survive!**

 **Wait… why did I use a Devil Survivor quote this time, anyway? I thought it was… oh.**

 **The Wheel Of Fate Is Turning.**

 **Rebel 1,** _ **Action!**_

* * *

 **Kamen Rider: Gaim's Feudal Warfare in Sword Art Online**  
 _by Xamusel_

* * *

Chapter 002: The Training Cycle Begins! (Or… how Kirito starts leading everyone to the next floors)

* * *

 _First Floor, Tolbana_

 _December 3rd, 2022_

When people started to gather to meet Diavel at the spot he had mentioned earlier, they were understandably floored when they saw Kirito there, but not the organizer. Kibaou was the first to open his mouth to say something, but Kirito held a hand up to forestall any dialogue.

"I'm certain you have things you want to say, Kibaou-san," Kirito said, trying to placate the man. "However, now's not the time. I'll explain what I can before we set out."

"I will attempt to explain what I can, as well," Kanzaki said. "We should wait for everyone else to arrive, first, however."

Kibaou decided to stay silent for the time being, before the rest got there, that is. When he looked around about a minute later, he saw that everyone had gathered, so that was when he opened his mouth again to speak—

"Oh, good, everyone's here," Kirito spoke up, interrupting Kibaou's thought processes. "Alright, everyone, my name's Kirito, and I've been assigned to be Diavel's stand-in for this clearing group. Now, before you ask, Diavel went on a late-night leveling expedition last night, but he never checked into the inn to signify his return. It's possible he might be dead at this point…" With that, Kirito looked as if he needed time to clear his heart more, but he didn't get the opportunity.

"Dead?" someone asked.

"Yes," Kanzaki informed. "Diavel, from what I could tell, was confident in his plan and his abilities, but perhaps a little _too_ confident. After my private meeting with him yesterday, I warned him to be careful… And yet, here we are."

Kirito shook his head, before he said, "In any case, I had been told I was going to lead the clearing group this time, so I'll do so. Now, before we get going to where Diavel's party found the boss chamber, _everyone_ is going to level up five times to keep the player death rate down to zero." Scanning the crowd, he asked, "Does everyone agree with my strategy?"

After a few seconds, everyone nodded. It wouldn't do to face the boss and fall because they were underleveled.

Kirito crossed his arms over his chest, before nodding. "Okay, then," he said. "We'll need all of today to level up and gather the money and gear we need to beat Illfang, in case we ever get injured or even close to death. Tomorrow, if we're not all at five levels higher, we're to continue until we get there. By the 5th is when I project we'll have the floor cleared. Any questions?"

There didn't seem to be any.

Kirito nodded in approval. "Good," he said. "Now, let us be off to a hunting ground nearby."

The group nodded, as Kirito led the way to the hunting ground.

* * *

 _At the hunting ground_

Kibaou was understandably upset with the fact that his preferred leader type was AWOL, or MIA, or whatever the term was. After all, he felt that Diavel was a charismatic type of person, not the sort of person that would be careless enough to get killed all of a sudden from trying to level up at night.

"You seem to be troubled," Kanzaki's voice said from nearby.

Kibaou looked at Kanzaki and asked, "What would _you_ know about it?"

"I can understand the feeling of worry over someone's fate," she replied. "And I do have to admit that Diavel wasn't the type to get himself killed like that… the only possibility that comes to mind is that he stumbled into Helheim, and was overcome by the dangers within despite my warnings."

Kibaou looked a bit taken aback by the revelation. "Is… is that so?" he asked with no small amount of uncertainty.

"It is the only way I can think of for Diavel to die so suddenly," Kanzaki answered with a solemn nod. "Helheim is a dangerous place, even for those who have managed to study it like myself - knowledge does not mean one is immune to the dangers."

Kibaou swallowed a dry lump down his throat. "R… right," he answered. "So… what now?"

"I have discovered a safe way to use Helheim's powers," Kanzaki informed. "I am looking for strong and strong-willed individuals capable of using it and using it to help clear the game. Kibaou-san, I will use this clearing attempt to test your worthiness."

Kibaou's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait…" he said. "You mean I could easily be able to use Helheim's powers like you can when I pass your test?"

"Maybe not easily, but safely - the two terms are not 100% interchangeable," Kanzaki replied. "And that is only _if_ you pass my test."

Kibaou felt that his inner conqueror was _finally_ ready to be unleashed. "Alright, then!" he declared. "I'll pass your test, and get ready to take the game on by—"

"Oi, Kibaou, get back to training!" Kirito called out.

As Kibaou ran off to train, Kanzaki frowned. She wondered if giving him Baron's Sengoku Driver was really the best option.

However, he seemed deeply affected by Diavel's disappearance/death, and she needed some way to take his mind off of that.

She just hoped this didn't cause trouble in the future.

If she only knew… Murphy was ready to screw her over with that.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another area of the hunting ground, a man and a woman were training together.

"Man, this brings back memories," the man said, running a hand through his short dark brown hair. "Almost like the times we went through that Warcraft VR, right?"

"You can say _that_ again," the woman agreed. "Who'd have thought that we'd play through a similar situation with a game series that wasn't going to get any sequels after the release of WoW?" She paused in her training, placing a hand on her forehead to wipe off the virtual sweat from going into her dark blue, almost purple, eyes. "What now, though?" she asked, shaking her head around to clear out the knots in her military short red hair.

"Well, we just have to train," the man replied. "Build up our levels, get good gear, and join the major clearing groups to get through the game." He sighed, looking at the ground with his own amethyst eyes. "Jeez… some honeymoon this turned out to be, huh, Luna?"

Lunamaria Yamato looked at her husband, who she had met in a prior MMO before the days of the NerveGear while she lived in the West Coast of the US. "Yeah, it sure had," she admitted. "First we log in and get some grinding in, thanks to your friend who was a beta tester teaching you how to play before the game actually launched, and then we start having our time to buy gear, when Kayaba himself pulled the hostage situation… when I see him out of this game, Takeshi, I'm going to _geld_ him!"

Takeshi Yamato briefly crossed his legs with a wince at the mention of the word gelding. "You might have to get in line, Luna," he said after recovering from the wince. "And that's assuming someone doesn't kill him first."

"Yeah, well, I know it's possible he'll be dead by the time this game's done," Luna replied. "I'm just saying that for the record."

Takeshi nodded. "Anyway," he said, changing the subject, "what do you think about what that Kanzaki woman said about the zipper portals yesterday? Do you think it could really be Helheim Forest?"

"How should _I_ know, Takeshi?" Luna replied. "I thought Toei had the whole Kamen Rider franchise copyrighted, though. Wouldn't Kayaba have gotten into _more_ trouble with the law for using it without permission?"

"That's what doesn't make sense," Takeshi remarked. "If it is real, then… someone must have hacked the game somehow, and don't ask me how THAT's possible."

Luna didn't reply right off the bat, deciding to use that moment to access her menu and fiddle with it.

"Luna?" Takeshi asked.

"Just a minute, honey," Luna said. "I'm going to see if I can…" At that moment, she found the right option. "A-HA!"

"What's up?" Takeshi asked, moving to look over her shoulder.

"I found a missing piece of code that Kayaba forgot to remove, Takeshi-koi," Luna answered. "If anyone with even two brain cells knew how to program with this terminal active, then _that_ is how our mysterious hacker did it!"

The terminal looked like a window, with lines of blue coding running across it. Tapping one of the lines expanded it and brought up an editing window, and tapping a red button returned the line to the original window.

"Huh, looks like a debugging feature for software problems in-game," Takeshi remarked. "You're right, someone could hack the game with that. The question then becomes, why Helheim?"

Luna shrugged. "I wouldn't know," she said, "but I have an idea what the original goal was supposed to be."

Takeshi only had to think for a second before he realized it, too. "Sengoku Drivers," he said.

"That's what I'm thinking," Luna said. "Of course, the goal could be for the Gaim Sengoku Driver instead of Sengoku Drivers in general…"

"Or some other Sengoku Driver," Takeshi remarked. "Gaim wasn't the only popular one. Still… someone hacks the game to get a Sengoku Driver, but somehow the game drags in Helheim Forest and the Inves along with the Driver."

"My money's on the hacker being Gaim," Luna said, pulling her double-bladed Battle Axe out of the ground. "You have any alternatives?"

"Someone with a big-enough complex on power could go with Baron," Takeshi remarked as he drew his Katana. "Ryugen's a distinct possibility, too. Honestly, it could be anyone - depends on which Rider the hacker felt closest to or liked the most. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if a businessman or businesswoman felt similar enough to Takatora that they went with Zangetsu!"

At that moment, Luna thought she heard a feminine sneeze from a few dozen meters away, causing her to look behind her… to see a monster about ready to charge her.

"Luna!" Takeshi called out, already moving in to intercept.

"I got this, Takeshi!" Luna called out, swinging her Battle Axe at the «Daylight Dire Wolf» where its head is.

The axe bit into the wolf, the heavy blow dropping its HP gauge rapidly, even as Takeshi buried his Katana into its flank, finishing it off.

"Thanks, honey," Luna said, looking Takeshi in the eye with a smile on her lips.

"You're welcome, love," Takeshi replied, smiling back.

Luna looked at the other players who were gathered to grind, before looking at hers and Takeshi's levels. "I wonder how long it's going to take before we get to the requisite level count?" she asked. "I mean, we started at level 9, but…"

"I think he just wants everyone to go up five levels from where they were when we first gathered for this," Takeshi replied. "Which would make Level 14 for us."

"I know that, honey," Luna said. "However…" she pointed at Takeshi's level. "I thought we agreed to have the same EXP gain rate?"

Indeed, while Luna was halfway through level 11, _Takeshi_ was barely into level 12!

"…Oops?" Takeshi said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

Luna sighed aggravatedly while dropping her head. "Honey…?"

"Yes, dear?" Takeshi asked.

"Next time," Luna said, raising her head with a dangerous glint in her eyes, "why don't you just let me grind a bit on my own for a while _before_ you join me?"

"Umm… uhh… s-sure," Takeshi replied nervously.

Luna's eyes replaced the glinting with a super sweet closed eye look, a sickly smile on her face. "Thank you~!" she said.

Takeshi sighed. He loved Luna very much, but frak, she could be scary at times.

"Hey!" Kirito's voice called out to the two of them. "What's keeping you two from continuing leveling up?!"

"Umm… I'm gonna take a brief break," Takeshi called back. "Luna and I promised to level up at the same pace, but I'm slightly ahead of her so I need to give her a chance to catch up."

"Okay, then," Kirito called out to them, before he went to another group of players.

"Thanks, Takeshi-koi," Luna said.

"You're welcome, Luna-koi," Takeshi replied, before giving her a brief kiss. "Don't take too long - I'm hoping to… _properly celebrate_ our victory over the Floor Boss tonight."

"We still didn't fight the Floor Boss yet, though," Luna pointed out. "So…"

"Well, if we do this quick enough, we might be able to get that encounter in before the day is out," Takeshi replied with a grin.

Luna chuckled as she heard that. "Only you," she said, shaking her head in the process.

Takeshi smiled as Luna got to work.

* * *

 **Xamusel: ASTRAL FINISH!**

 **Review corner here:**

 **guest: I knew that, actually, without you having to tell me. However, this was one of the few ideas Takeshi and I had written up that actually got enough attention to be publishable… even if Take won't write in this any longer, sadly.**

 **DaManWOFear: Okay, something I already noted with you in private, but you reviewed twice for the same chapter… and I understand that it was your app doing it for you. In any case, the rest of this reply is for your other review in this story, so…**

 **1) I'm glad you like the premise. As a matter of fact, the story is planned to include (among the different movies and specials) the Gaim×Wizard crossover movie, the Heisei Riders vs Showa Riders mega crossover movie (yes,** _ **mega**_ **crossover, because it includes** _ **every**_ **main Kamen Rider up to Gaim and even three of the secondary Gaim Riders), brief elements of the Great Soccer Battle movie (as of this writing), and more… including a peculiar crossover in the future after the story is all over with to make the Drive×Gaim movie happen (which, regarding Drive's story, is another crossover between a Kamen Rider show and something else). Needless to say, though, I'm going to include the Gaim Gaiden V-Cinemas where appropriate as well.**

 **2) Glad you like Kanzaki as a character. And yes, Asuna is indeed the 'Mai' analogue, which will prove to be… rather a risky move on Take's and my parts. I mean, yes, we needed a way to make Kirito's power progression make sense, but at what cost to Asuna's character development, then? I hope there's no cost involved with this.**

 **3) Let me be honest… Argo's definitely showing up later on. If I decide to include the others, however, I doubt I'll be able to work them into the early portion of the story… unless I did some heavy reworking of the 93 already planned chapters to try pulling this off. Yes, you read that right, Takeshi and I already had 93 chapters outlined before things went down the crapper for us working on this story together. *ahem* Anyway, let me see if I can put in those characters, first and foremost.**

 **4) I appreciate the info you gave about the other Gaim/SAO stories out there on this site. However, this isn't quite the place to bring up those stories, sadly. I would appreciate it if the presence of spoilers for other people's stories was limited by a long shot.**

 **5) You have the update here today, thankfully… actually, I'm a few hours early on that count (it's not even midnight of the day when I posted this).**

 **Xamusel: Well… technically, this chapter only took a day to write, back when Takeshi and I started writing this together. It's surprising what motivation can do to a person. As such… the following portion in quotes is from him, since I felt he needed a say in this, even though he no longer is writing in this.**

" **OK, so, to recap: Kirito is the new group lead and is having everyone train their butts off, my personal OC and his love interest (and yes, she's a local version of Lunamaria Hawke from Gundam SEED Destiny - what can I say? I like her a lot) have shown up, and Kibaou is being considered for the new Baron.**

 **Let's just say things are going to heat up next chapter."**

 **And, with that, I have to say that it's agreed. In any event, this has to be one of my shorter chapters, since I prefer not to have under six thousand words in a chapter. I hope that the next chapter fixes that for this story.**

 **Now, how about we get ready to start the next chapter, shall we?**

 **Until we meet again… farewell.  
~Xamusel**

 **PS: I might be late in getting the next chapter of this story out. I'm afraid that I still need to work on the stories I had you guys vote for in the poll… which I will be doing all throughout the next month. Sorry about that.**


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